This blog is dedicated to musicians, fans and fanatics that brave the boundaries of FOUR. Its for Talkin', Playin', Writin', Debatin' and Pontificatin' about music that is outside of the restrictions of common meters. From toe tappin' to head bangin', we are genre biased free, Prog, Metal, Rock, Speed Comp, Electronic, Jazz, World, Classical and all flavors in between ...

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Well here in the States its tax time and the due date is quickly approaching. So to help you Odd Timers out there deal with this impending date, here is a wicked groove in 15 for ya by Scarlet Hollow...

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Whether you celebrate this day with bunnies and chocolate, reverence, church, solace, dinner and ham, or not at all, its all good. But I suggest, lets celebrate this day with 5! 5/8 that is mixed in with 6/8 brought to you by Wild Turkey off of Battle Hymn. Enjoy their 70s sound and great hippy Easter lyrics.

Sunday, April 5, 2009

ranks in the Obsessed category too! He has compiled a library of Odd Time Music. Yep, that's right, with registered accounts capabilities so you can comment, many sponsors and about 800 or so songs from about 200 artists mostly in the rock category and some pop & jazz. Well I have to say he has certainly opened my eyes to some artists and some songs I thought were just in 4. He is quite diligent. So have a look and there is much that you can learn from this Odd Time Music Library. More about this to come.

Saturday, April 4, 2009

Well well, if it isn't this day... 4/4 is really not my nemesis... 4 is okay, its just the fact that it gets all the attention - I think its time for other numbers to have their time in musical limelight. The fact that we as a collective are in a 4/4 mesmerization is a mystery to me. Yes its got a safe and familiar back beat that's hard to lose, but we've made it that way via repetitive consensus. I can understand that its uncomfortable for people to think and feel in unfamiliar ways so they stick to what they know. But, when the majority of people and even some musicians don't even know what I am talking about when it comes to 'odd time', that's what really befuddles me. Are we really that hypnotized? Do we just drone on to the same beat without question? Unfortunately, for the majority of us, I think, yes. So, common or uncommon, outside or trapped by your box, by the bar line or no bar lines (I can't think of anymore cliches at the moment) its your choice. But as for me I am going to make sure that I do some thing odd on this day so that I don't feel so common. But I do that everyday... so maybe I will just be uncommonly common. Maybe..

Friday, April 3, 2009

Check out Cathy Moore playing a Betsy Likens tune - but she rewrote in 7/8 (complete with crickets in the background). How cool is that? Totally...

Andy, a wicked cool odd timer listener, enthusiast, turned me on to Cathy's blog, she has all sorts of instruction on how to play in odd time and she is an amazing player. This made my day, or week, or even month. Its not everyday that you find someone rewriting tunes in odd time. She is like Don Ellis but with the banjo. Check her out and I will be playing more of her stuff soon.

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Here’s something new for you,
(well it was new for me)
Perler fra Svin
(what? – Danish for Pearls from Swine)

I’m a sucker for any odd meter, so when the genre of Danish Pop was introduced, I immediately thought oh no sticky sweet (I prefer darkness). But when I had a listen to these fellows, I really enjoyed it. They have a great authenticity and originality about them, even though I don’t really know what they are saying. But, Jakob Johansen (gotta love that name), guitarist, song-writer whose project this kindly clued me in on the lyrical meanings.

Vaegelsind – 7/4 is about being fickle, unbalanced, wanting everything and not being able to choose.

Morgen med Sara – 7/4, 4/4 “Morning with Sara” about an ex-girly and longing for something you don’t know what it is or someone you don’t know who is or where to find.

I think that Jakob has reached his ambition of “making music that is rhythmically ambitious and lyrically profound while remaining easily accessible, melodic and catchy”. He lives in Denmark, studying journalism and has been writing pop tunes for the past 7 years. And as he told me that he discovered what a time signature was 5 years ago and since then has become more and more obsessed with odd meters. Now that’s my kind of musician. I look forward to his future odd creations (13/8 hint hint).

Have a listen – and of course they will be streaming on the Odd Time Obsessed broadcast.

So in order to procrastinate my taxes just a little longer, I found the perfect distraction, something I've been meaning to do for a long time: POST MUSIC SAMPLES - Whats a site about music with out samples? Lame? Well I don't want it to be that so... even with the broadcast stream, you want to hear what a song sounds like now not sometime in the future when you are going to forget about it. I am going to try to add as many as I can without going over the transfer rate limits on this server. The song sample links are in different colors (no way) mind you, you have to be a bit patient for it to download.